MEDIA ADVISORY | MARCH 17, 2015 – We are pleased to announce that today at the North American Garden Tourism Conference in Toronto, the Canadian Garden Council announced the recipients of the 2015 Canadian Garden Tourism Awards and UBC Botanical Garden’s Greenheart Canopy Walkway won New Garden Experience of the Year.

Garden Tourism Awards are presented to organizations and individuals who have distinguished themselves in the development and promotion of the garden experience as a tourism attraction.

Larry Hodgson, Canada’s Garden Route spokesperson, tour leader, prolific author and horticultural expert for Fleurs Plants Jardins magazine said, “My garden tours, most of which are in Canada, have been filling up like never before, and I’m doing more and more of them all the time. 10 years ago, I did about 6 or 7 a year (I’m including out of country tours): this year, it will be 15.”

About:

UBC BOTANICAL GARDEN is Canada’s oldest continuously operating university botanic garden, established in 1916 under the directorship of John Davidson, British Columbia’s first provincial botanist. The original mission of the garden was research into the native flora of British Columbia.Over the past nine decades, the mission of UBC Botanical Garden has broadened to include research, conservation, teaching and public display of temperate plants from around the world.The UBC Centre for Plant Research is the research arm of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. World-class research in topics including plant adaptation, evolution, genomics, plant physiology and biotic interactions, phytochemistry, plant biotechnology and plant breeding contribute to the University of British Columbia’s reputation as one of the leading research institutions in North America.

GREENHEART INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION The Greenheart Canopy walkway is one of Vancouver’s most exciting eco-adventure attractions and has gained a world of experience working in parks and protected areas and strives to create a global network of conservation-based attractions. greenheart.ca

CANADIAN GARDEN COUNCIL is the national umbrella body for provincial and national garden organizations. Its vision is to champion the garden experience sector’s contributions to the well-being of Canadians and the sustainability of our communities and to promote the joys and benefits of gardens, landscapes and green infrastructure. The Council manages: Garden Days gardendays.ca , Canada’s Garden Route canadasgardenroute.ca , Garden Tourism Awards and Garden Tourism Conference gardentourismconference.ca